Stuttgart. The Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup kicks off the new season on 8 May on the Formula 1 circuit in Istanbul Park. After the cancellation of the two season-opening rounds in Bahrain, drivers and teams are now looking forward to the belated start. “The break was long enough,” says title defender René Rast (Germany). “It’s high time that it finally gets underway.”

All systems are go for the popular one-make race series which has run as support to the Formula 1 races since 1993. In Istanbul Park, 21 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race cars line up to start, fielded by nine teams. With this, the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup again enjoys a strong turn out this year. “We have top class entries from teams and drivers,” says Jonas Krauss, who joined Porsche Motorsport in March as the new manager of the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. Krauss is extremely pleased with the great potpourri of seasoned campaigners and talented youngsters. “The best drivers and teams from last year are back again this season. That just shows how popular this series is.”

At the wheel of the #1 Porsche 911 GT3 Cup, René Rast leads the field into the new season on the 5.338 kilometre Grand Prix circuit at the Bosphorus. This season, the title defender drives for the newly-formed VELTINS Lechner Racing Team with Austria’s Norbert Siedler. His arch rival Nick Tandy (Great Britain), reigning vice-champion after three victories and winner of the BBS rookie classification, is back and again competes for Konrad Motorsport. One of the most serious aspirants for the title is Jeroen Bleekemolen. The double Supercup champion from the Netherlands has switched to the Team Abu Dhabi by tolimit, where he joins forces with another very strong contender, Britain’s Sean Edwards. Supercup record winner Patrick Huisman (Netherlands) races for Team Bleekemolen for the first time and is keen to secure his 25th Supercup win this season. His compatriot and teammate Sebastiaan Bleekemolen made a promising start to the motorsport season at the Sebring 12 Hours: At the endurance classic in Florida, he won the GTC class with the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup.

The most prominent newcomer to the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup is Mathias Lauda (Austria). The son of racing legend Niki Lauda drove the VIP car as a guest of Porsche AG last year in Hockenheim – and now the former DTM pilot competes in the season-opener in Istanbul with Konrad Motorsport Austria. Also new to the series this season is the Attempto Racing team, who won the Porsche Carrera Cup Deutschland title last year with Frenchman Nicolas Armindo. This season the squad enters two Porsche 911 GT3 Cup manned by Robert Lukas (Poland) and Supercup-rookie Kévin Estre (France).

The race in Istanbul on 8 May is broadcast live by TV stations Eurosport 2 (11.45 hrs) and Sky (11.40 hrs). Additionally, Eurosport televises race highlights on Sunday at 18.15 hrs in its programme “Motorsport Weekend Magazin”.